3 Year Plan - Mission Statement for the GBC Distance Education Program (April 2006)

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3 Year Plan - Mission Statement for the GBC Distance Education Program (April 2006) The mission provides access to effective education for all students in our service area. This plan will address the issues of local and remote sites, in regard to needs of different communities throughout the Great Basin College service area. It is important that all campuses be aware of this plan, and become a medium for reaching college objectives. Staff at all centers will be kept informed of technological choices and or adjustments for class delivery. The mission of the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) is to provide higher education services to the citizens of the State at a high level of quality consistent with the State’s resources. It accomplishes this mission by acquiring, transmitting and preserving knowledge. The system endeavors to assist in providing an educated and technically skilled citizenry for public service and the general welfare, to contribute toward an educated and trained work force for industry and commerce, and to facilitate the individual quest for personal fulfillment. Key Objectives: 1) The NSHE will maximize the use of technology when cost-effective. 2) The NSHE will enhance and expand its distance education programs. 3) The NSHE will upgrade and enhance existing computing, telecommunications, and technology.

Distance Education (DE): Benchmarks 1. Provide excellent education in delivering a complete selection of college courses. 2. Provide timely and accurate support and training for all DE and hybrid courses. 3. Optimize the number of DE courses offered. Departments determine which courses to offer through DE by taking into account student needs at local and remote sites. a. Monitor wait lists of IAV and online courses and plan for experienced faculty to open multiple sections. 4. Departments will develop pilot DE certificate and degree programs to meet the needs of students where appropriate. 5. Departments will monitor wait lists of IAV and online courses and plan for faculty to open multiple sessions where appropriate. 6. Establish sufficient DE sections for General Education courses (where appropriate), to enable students to earn degrees through DE. 7. Investigate and create pilot courses when new technologies emerge. 8. Increase support, satisfaction, and success for distance education students through: a. Day-to-day operations b. Phone Support – 8 am to 7 pm technical support for staff and students will be provided by IAV and online component for local and remote sites. c. Student Orientations held on the main campus and at branch campuses at the beginning of each semester will be designed to introduce and familiarize prospective, new, and current students with distance education and student support resources needed to be a successful distance learner. d. Offer face-to-face and online orientation programs for students e. Focus on problem solving for occasional technical problems f. Provide students access to library resources via online services g. Enhance existing and create new types of support programs for distance education faculty and support staff. h. Provide professional development workshops at the beginning of each semester and throughout the semester

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i. Provide easily accessible, on-going course design, implementation and evaluation assistance to faculty j. Assist faculty to learn the use of a variety of instructional methods within the delivery system to best motivate students k. Assist faculty to motivate students to take an active roll in their DE courses by: i. Providing informative handouts that follow the order of the presentation ii. Planning time for questions and discussion iii. Calling on students at remote sites iv. Establish email and discussion groups using online component to support the class 9. The Distance Education Committee will help to: a. Continue to develop and enhance training for all faculty planning on teaching DE courses on how to use the software/equipment. Make such training innovative and accessible. Encourage content training within departments. Encourage faculty to attend training. b. Encourage faculty to attend training prior to teaching their first DE course. c. Assist faculty in following Board of Regents policy in regards to guidelines for effective DE courses. d. In collaboration with Faculty Senate Committees and interested parties, will develop surveys and online questionnaires of distance education students to assist in evaluating students’ retention and comprehension of course materials. e. Explore the educational needs and wants of constituents in rural areas of our service area. Gather information and data by means of mail and online surveys. Information gathered will be used in preparing a report on promoting distance education in the service area. f. Study and report to Faculty Senate options for utilization of all current and future DE resources g. Make recommendations for scheduling of distance education courses (use of rollover, assigned time blocks to departments, priority of one course or another) to be used in upcoming semesters. h. Explore options to online component in regards to the increasing cost of licensing. Options may include increasing lab fees, shifting to open-source software or other commercial course management software. 10. Develop a DE equipment replacement plan utilizing available recurring resources. 11. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, Great Basin College provides reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities. 12. The DE resources will be available to all programs of the college including ABE-ESL and Continuing Education. 13. Equipment Replacement Policy- at the end of the spring Semester of every year. IAV will look at existing funds and replace equipment as needed at local and remote sites.

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Terms and Definitions used in this Plan

Role of Distance Education Committee – The role of the DE committee is to provide advice and suggestions for distance education program enhancement. Definition of Distance Education - Distance education occurs when learners receive instruction through various media, i.e., video, voice, data or print, while being physically separated from a teacher. Distance Education Delivery Method - The DE program will use but are not limited to, interactive compressed video, videotapes, and Web-based. Fully Online Courses – A course is called an Online Course if it is not an IAV course and if at least 50% of the contact hours associated with the course are delivered through WebCT, e-mail, the Internet, chat rooms, bulletin boards, or other (synchronous or asynchronous) computerized methods. An online course will have a section number that indicates its online status. Interactive Video Courses (IAV) - A course is called an Interactive Video (IAV) course if 50% or more of the contact hours associated with the course are delivered by way of the interactive video medium to one or more outlying sites. An IAV course will have section numbers that indicate its IAV status. Hybrid Courses – A course is called a Hybrid Course if does not qualify as either an IAV or online class, yet at least 25% but less than 50% of the contact hours associated with the course are delivered online or by IAV. Extended Syllabus - An extended syllabus can include a variety of information depending on the course. It can supply students in advance with articles and handouts to be used in the course in one packet. The difficulty of getting learning materials to students in remote sites is reduced. GBC encourages faculty members to explore using online component for syllabus and course materials. Online component may be used to disseminate assignments and course materials via the Internet. ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) - The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 requires that people with disabilities have equal access to public programs and services.

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